ECE Graduate Handbook

Message from the Department Chair

Welcome to the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the University of Maryland.

Our Department offers one of the strongest education and research programs in the nation. We recently celebrated the 100th Anniversary of the ECE Department (1908-2008) here on the College Park campus. For over a century, our vibrant department has established a tradition of excellence in research and education innovation, and I see a future that is even brighter. Led by over 60 faculty members and many more research staff, the research programs of the department cover a wide spectrum of activities in the areas of:

Communications and Networking

Signal Processing

Control, Robotics, and Dynamical Systems

Computer Engineering

Cybersecurity

Optics and Photonics

Circuits and Systems

Electronic Materials and Devices

Bioelectronics and Systems

Applied Electromagnetics

Our location near Washington, D.C. offers unique opportunities for students to engage in research at national and government laboratories, including NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, the National Institute of Standards and Technology, the National Institutes of Health, and the Army and Navy Research Laboratories.

We place particular emphasis on enriching the student experience. Our Department is strongly committed to undergraduate education, and offers students the opportunity to participate in programs like our Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU), such as MERIT-BIEN, as well as the GEMSTONE program.

At the graduate level, our students can participate in our ECE Graduate Student Association, an award winning student organization that fosters a supportive and vibrant community for graduate students.

Our faculty research is supported by annual expenditures of over $30 million. Our level of research expenditures places the department among the very top electrical and computer engineering departments in the nation, a reputation that is supported by national rankings.

With approximately 1,000 undergraduates and more than 300 graduate students, we are the largest and most prestigious academic department within the A. James Clark School of Engineering, the fastest rising engineering school in the country. Our alumni find themselves in high demand for positions in some of the top corporate, government and education institutions and continue to make significant contributions to the field.

I invite you to learn more about our department and the exciting experiences that await you here at Maryland.

Message from the Graduate Studies Office (GSO)

Greetings and welcome to the University of Maryland and the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering! We are excited for another successful year and look forward to assisting you in your academic career at one of the fastest rising ECE graduate programs in the country.

The Graduate Studies Office (GSO) serves approximately 325 diverse full- and part-time graduate students and handles approximately 1,500 applications for admission each year. We have many constituents including campus administrators, faculty, staff, and prospective students from all over the United States and abroad. Come visit our office, and let us know how we can better serve you.

The GSO would like to emphasize several things that will help you progress through your graduate studies. First, you should subscribe to the ece-gradstudents listserv. To sign-up, send an email to listserv@listserv.umd.edu with the message “subscribe ece-gradstudents <Your Name>” in the body of the email.

Next, you should read emails that you will regularly receive from us and talk one-on-one with our dedicated staff. We are always looking for the most effective ways to communicate information, policies, and deadlines to you. If at any point you have any questions, please email us.

Also, for students who are seeking a well-rounded experience, we are happy to talk with you about various aspects of graduate student life. We can direct you to resources that may help you achieve a work-life balance. We want you to know that you are a part of a community here in ECE that is both close-knit and connected to broader areas such as the university and metropolitan D.C.

Lastly, the GSO encourages you to take responsibility for your own success. One way to do this is to consult this handbook as well as the Graduate School's Graduate Catalog for information on policies, procedures, and requirements. Another way is for you to access and keep your student record updated through the Office of the Registrar.